Article

Commodities: A good week ... unless you're Papa John's

Commodities down, stock prices up make a good week for all the brands monitored here, except Papa John's, which took a serious hit in value last week after its earnings report.

May 14, 2018 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

It was a week to celebrate for most pizza restaurateurs, with commodity prices down overall and stock values up. However, all the lower commodity prices will do little to help the pain at Papa John's, which slid mightily in value last week after its most recent earnings report. 

Cheese
The price of cheese was down 4 cents at the close of activity Friday, to $1.63, from the previous week's close of $1.67. 

Wheat
Compared to last week, cash bids for wheat 8 1/4 to 35 3/4 cents lower. Kansas City U.S. No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 35 3/4 cents lower, from $6.08-$6.23 per bushel.  Kansas City U.S. No. 2 Soft Red winter rail bid was not quoted.  

St. Louis truck U.S. No. 2 Soft Red Winter terminal bid was 32 to 33 cents lower from $4.92-$5.13 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14.0 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 26 to 31 cents lower at $7.69 per bushel.  Portland U.S. Soft White wheat rail was 8 1/4 to 16 cents lower, from $5.75-$6.00 per bushel. 

Gasoline and diesel fuel
 

Natural gas
Natural gas spot prices fell at most locations for the week concluding on Wednesday, May 9. The Henry Hub spot price was stable, dropping only 1 cent, from $2.73/MMBtu to $2.72/MMBtu. The average Henry Hub price for the week fell, from $2.76/MMBtu last report week to $2.71/MMBtu this report week.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the June 2018 contract price also remained relatively flat, falling only 2 cents, from $2.754/MMBtu to $2.737/MMBtu yesterday over the same week.

Net injections to working gas totaled 89 Bcf for the week ending May 4. Working natural gas stocks are 1,432 Bcf, which is 38 percent lower than the year-ago level and 27 percent lower than the five-year (2013-17) average for the week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 16 cents, averaging $7.99/MMBtu for the week ending May 9. The price of ethane, propane, and isobutane fell by 5, 3, and 3, respectively. The price of natural gasoline rose by 2 percent. The price of butane remained flat week over week.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, May 1, the natural gas rig count increased by one to 196. The number of oil-directed rigs rose by nine to 834. The total rig count increased by 11, and it now stands at 1032.

Pizza company stocks
Domino's was up for the week, closing Friday at $249.53, up from 248.24 the previous week's close. Likewise, Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, also saw a nice elevation in value, closing Friday at $84.69, up $2.26 from the previous week's close. 

Papa Murphy's experienced a nice value boost as well, closing up 21 cents on the week to finish off Friday at $5.50. 
But Papa John's was in freefall, falling $7.54 Friday to settle in at $52.56 at the close. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.